Adventures on a Budget

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Day 20: Harney Peak

Oh boy, Harney Peak………it’s the highest peak between the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains at 7,200 feet.The hike to the top starts at about 6,000 feet and is about 5 hours long.It’s rough going at times, but totally worth it.Here, I’ll let the pictures do the talking……

It was a STEEP climb.

We're getting pretty good with the self-timer.

See that red area, below the big rock? That looks like leaves changing color? Well, it's actually dead leaves due to the pine beetle. Which has killed millions of trees.

They have to cut down all the infected trees to try to stop the infestation. It's not working very well.

Yeah, you see that rectangle thing in the middle of the picture? THAT'S where we're going!!!

Cathedral Spires. We passed by but didn't detour.

Needles!!!

OMG, are we almost there??

No, we're not. COME ON!!!

Hey! Since I'm already so far behind, let me take a picture!!

Pretty.

Cute boys.

Look girls!! I'm wearing my hiking boots!

We made it!!

Kipper's cooling off in a spring that was dammed up to provide a water supply for the men who were stationed at Harney Peak to watch for fires in the Black Hills back in the old days.

Wow

On the way back down....I'm STILL lagging behind.

Sylvan Lake at the end of our hike. Beautiful and cold.

Just what we needed.

That's one tired pooch.

Dinner that night was the best ever. Burgers with Jim Wilson's homemade bar-b-q sauce, lovingly packed up in an OJ bottle. More Jimmy Sauce? Yes, please.

After enjoying our time in St. Louis, we headed south to Memphis to visit... Graceland! Elvis was only 22 when he purchased the col...

Travel Wisdom by Paul Theroux

You think of travellers as bold, but our guilty secret is that travel is one of the laziest ways on earth of passing the time. Travel is not merely the business of being bone-idle, but also an elaborate bumming evasion, allowing us to call attention to ourselves with our conspicuous absence while we intrude upon other people’s privacy - being actively offensive as fugitive freeloaders.

Life Wisdom by Mark Twain

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

About

We met many many moons ago in Austin, TX (please don't move there). Angie went to UT and worked in non-profits as a program manager. Greg worked in various fields and played the drums. We lived, we worked, we laughed, we played. Then, in 2011, one of us had a birthday that didn't sit well and convinced the other one to quit her job and travel the U.S. in a tiny (TINY) RV with our dog. The other one went along with it because, what the heck else was she to do? and packed up the TINY RV with their not-so-tiny dog and they traveled for a year. 43 U.S. states and 7 Canadian provinces later, we're still together and now both are 110% sold on the travel thing. In 2015, we bought another camper van. And our adventures continue, with the same three characters. The end goal? Not so much a goal as an idea. Maybe there will be some sailing involved. Definitely other countries. Hopefully, Panama...